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Police officers salute the hearse as funeral procession moves to the cemetery during the funeral for Jack Pinto, 6, one of the victims of the December 14, Sandy Hook elementary school shooting, in Newtown, Connecticut.(Image credit: AFP/Getty Images via @daylife)

(Addendum below about Bushmaster AR-15 used at Sandy Hook.)

The gun legislation that the Senate will consider next month represents a victory for the firearm industry. It will lack an assault weapons ban, which would limit hundreds of thousands of firearms sold each year, leaving gunmakers free to profit from the tremendous increase in demand brought by the fear of harsh anti-gun laws.

The proposed bill would increase the penalties for people who buy weapons for others prohibited from buy guns (so-called straw purchasing), and may also include a grant program for school security and regulations that enhance background checks. What won't be included is the ban fiercely championed by Sen. Diane Feinstein (D-Calif.), which would restrict 157 different models and high-capacity magazines.

Feinstein had hoped to create a law similar to the 1994 assault weapons ban that expired under President George W. Bush. Feinstein's legislation, however, stood no chance of passing in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives and wasn't well received by Senate majority Harry Reid (D-Nevada). Now, Feinstein has the option to add the ban as an amendment, but its exclusion from the Democrat's larger package greatly reduced its chances.

The debate on the appropriate response to the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting, where a man used a semi-automatic rifle to kill 26 people, threatened to put the $32 billion firearm industry directly in the cross hairs. Pressure increased on major gun retailers like Wal-Mart, and to change their policies; on investors to sell their highly profitable stakes in gun companies; and on the gun manufacturers themselves to stop making some semi-automatic rifles. The response? Dick's and Cabela's pulled some weapons from Connecticut stores. Cerberus Capital Management, a private equity firm, vowed to sell the Freedom Group, the nation's largest long-gun manufacturer that made the weapon used at Sandy Hook. Another PE shop, Tiger Global Management, sold its gun stocks.

Gunmakers have largely escaped, though. In fact, they're doing more business than ever before, and with the ban going nowhere in Congress, the industry is left with surging demand for its products and little to fear from lawmakers. Demand increased immediately after President Obama's reelection, then reached even loftier levels after speculation that the government would create restrictive legislation. Gun sales, as measured by FBI background checks, rose 19% in 2012 to nearly 19.6 million. Sales in December alone--the month in which the Sandy Hook massacre occurred--nearly doubled to 2.8 million.

Dramatic increases indeed. Mike Fifer, CEO of , America's largest gun manufacturer, certainly recognizes this. "We have been basically selling every single thing we make," he said. Fifer won't reveal specifics, even when analysts pushed him on a recent conference call: "I'm not going to answer at all. I'm not forecasting increases. I'm not forecasting percentages. I'm not telling you whether you can get sequential the same or not. So just completely forget that, guys."

Fifer doesn't need to vocalize it. It's already perfectly clear. The gun debate has done little else than stoke firearm fever in the United States to an even greater level.

ADDENDUM: It seems every story about Sandy Hook requires this reassurance. The Bushmaster AR-15 was indeed used. You may visit this media release from the Connecticut State Police here. The relevant portion, from Lt. J. Paul Vance, is below:

The shooter used the Bushmaster .223 to murder 20 children and six adults inside the school; he used a handgun to take his own life inside the school. No other weapons were used in this crime. This case remains under investigation.